Empire and After: Toward a Framework for Comparing Empires and Their Consequences in the Post-Imperial Middle East and Central Asia

Abstract

This article compares and contrasts the variations in paths from empire to sovereignty in the Middle East and Central Asia. We identify differences in empires and their impact; examine the drivers of transition from empire to sovereignty, the international system and nationalist mobilization; assess the consequences of imperial transmissions for state formation and nation-building; and link these factors to the degree of rupture with empire in the post-imperial period.